At least seven injured, three critically, after blasts rock Florida propane plant

Tyler Mackenzie Photography

A series of explosions engulfed a propane plant in flames in Tavares, Florida, late Monday. This photo was taken at 11.36 p.m. from a location between 1-2 miles from the blast.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

A combination of human error and equipment failure might have caused a series of explosions that engulfed a propane plant in flames in Tavares, Fla., late Monday, injuring eight people and forcing evacuations for a half-mile around the scene, authorities said.

The explosions began as a fire spread through the Blue Rhino plant,?near Orlando,?about 10:30 p.m. ET, Lake County sheriff's Lt. John Herrell told reporters early Tuesday.

Plant officials say all employees of the plant are accounted for. All of those injured were in the plant when the fire started.

Watch live coverage on WESH-TV

Tavares Fire Chief?Richard Keith said Tuesday morning that sabotage is not expected. The fire marshal is on site to do a full investigation.

Keith told reporters that the fire is completely extinguished, though officials are working to contain a massive 30,000-pound propane tank that has a leaking valve.

Nearby media was told to move back Tuesday morning, but no evacuations have been ordered. Crews have been dousing the tank, one of three massive on the plant?s property, with water and a tanker is emptying the propane.

Tavares police Lieutenant Jason Paynter said that if one of the massive tanks exploded during in the previous night?s fire, the results would have been ?catastrophic.?

Keith said, ?There were some serious injuries, but it could have been a lot worse.?

The fire chief, who lives less than 3 miles from the plant, said the explosion sounded ?like a car hit our house.?

?It shook my house, so I knew it was bad right off the bat,? he said.

Residents of the area told NBC station WESH of Orlando that flames from the explosions could be seen for several miles, but there were no reports of damage to the surrounding buildings. ?

"It sounds like bombs are going off," Norma Haygood, a nearby resident, told WESH.

No deaths were immediately reported, Herrell said. Three male victims were in critical condition, the Orlando Regional Medical Center, told NBC News.?

A large series of explosions that began late Monday night at a gas plant in Florida have injured several workers and forced the evacuation of residents up to at least a mile away. NBC's Mark Potter reports.

Two were airlifted; a third was transported by ambulance. ?

Authorities initially declared a one-mile evacuation zone around the plant, but they later scaled that back to a half-mile.?

"We feel that there is no longer any danger" to the area around the plant, Herrell said.

Twenty-four or 26 people were scheduled to work the night shift at the 33,000-acre facility, according to plant managers, Herrell said. Authorities initially said 15 people were unaccounted for, but Herrell later said the company's management said that they had accounted for all of the people it knew were in the plant at the time of the initial explosion.

NBC News/Bing Maps

Some of them showed up at others location, according to Blue Rhino, Herrell said.

The plant housed about 53,000 20-pound propane cylinders, Herrell said, the kind used in backyard barbecues.

"They store the propane cylinders on different parts of the property, and as the fire spread, there were more and more explosions," he said.?

Explosions continued until 1 a.m. ET Tuesday, roughly 2? hours after the first blasts were reported.

Don Ingram, former plant production supervisor at the plant, said his son felt one of the explosions in their home 6 miles away.

Ingram told WESH that the back area of the plant is "lined with propane tanks stacked four or five high on plastic pallets."

"I don't think you fight this fire," he said. "It's just too dangerous."

Blue Rhino is a subsidiary of Ferrellgas Partners, the second-largest distributor of propane in the U.S.

Azhar Fateh of NBC News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:24 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2f5366ae/sc/3/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C30A0C197637310Eat0Eleast0Eseven0Einjured0Ethree0Ecritically0Eafter0Eblasts0Erock0Eflorida0Epropane0Eplant0Dlite/story01.htm

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Sandy Stimpson receives endorsement from Mobile firefighters union

MOBILE, Alabama ? A local firefighters union represented by approximately 500 active and retired city employees endorsed candidate Sandy Stimpson for Mobile mayor Tuesday during a news conference at their lodge.

Mobile Firefighters Association No. 1349 voted on the endorsement approximately one month ago, but the announcement was publicly made one week after Stimpson publicly announced his support from the Mobile County Law Enforcement Association.

"Crime is the No. 1 issue in this campaign and I have the endorsement of both primary groups of first responders," Stimpson said.

Union representatives said they support Stimpson largely out of concerns from a lack of pay increase within the past six years, along with future concerns of maintaining their pensions.

"We feel it's a time for change in Mobile," Dwayne Patrick, president of Local 1349 said. "We've gone the last six years with no raises. Our jobs are threatened with layoffs, furloughs. We believe in (Stimpson) and believe he will take Mobile to better places."

Stimpson also said the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department's equipment is outdated, and that maintenance costs are a problem. He pledged to replace equipment and vehicles through a long-range planning process that he has touted during the campaign trail.

Stimpson also accused incumbent Mayor Sam Jones' administration of not making equipment replacements a priority until after the penny sales tax was approved in October. The sales tax increase financed a $5.1 million lease agreement the City Council endorsed in December to purchase two new fire ladder trucks.

Voters will cast ballots in the mayoral and Mobile City Council races on Aug. 27.?

Steve Raby, a consultant with Jones' campaign, said that despite the endorsement, the incumbent mayor has support of "a lot of firefighters" within the city. Raby also said the mayor "has made a commitment over the past eight years for new facilities and new equipment."

Raby also touted the city's Insurance Service Office rating improvement in March, which measures fire protection services and affects homeowner insurance rates. The ISO rating was upgraded from a 4 to a 3 that was scored in 2010. The rating increase was credited to improvements in emergency communication systems, the addition of two new fire stations, and 45 new firefighters.

Jones, in a statement released Tuesday afternoon, said the ISO rating is the best in the city's history and he said he is planning to include a pay raise for city employees in the 2014 budget.

"Everyone in this country knows that we have just gone through one the nation's toughest economic periods," Jones said. "While other cities were laying off and furloughing employees, Mobile managed to save its employees' jobs."

Stimpson, though, said the mayor's administration used the firefighters as a "whipping post" to encourage for the passage of the penny sales tax increase.

Stimpson also said the city's pension system needs to be carefully handled before it "unravels" similar to the situation facing Detroit and Prichard.

"I would say every city in America has that challenge," he said. "Who would have thought Detroit would have gone broke? We are a city in decline, our population is shrinking so when you have the shrinking population and don't generate the revenue you need, (a similar problem) could happen (in Mobile). My hope is that it doesn't happen."

Stimpson's endorsement announcement comes two days after Jones announced support from The Black Chiefs' Fire Officers Committee of Mobile, the Mobile Police Benevolent Association and the City of Mobile Public Works Workers Inc., which represents approximate 130 people in total.?

Stimpson said he's happy with the two groups who have publicly announced support for his campaign.

"I feel very fortunate to have received the two that I got," he said.j

This story was updated at 4:44 p.m. on Tuesday, July 30, 2013, to include comments from Mayor Sam Jones.

Source: http://blog.al.com/live/2013/07/sandy_stimpson_receives_endors.html

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Yahoo Acquires Lexity, Will Keep E-Commerce App Platform Running But Rebrand It

Yahoo has just acquired ecommerce app platform Lexity, a startup founded by former employee Amit Kumar. Lexity says all services will remain running, but it will eventually be renamed with Yahoo branding. This isn't just another talent deal. The startup, formerly called Vurve, had raised $5.7 million to help merchants build apps for customer acquisition, retention, and monetization.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yrOVhDNISGs/

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Simulations aiding study of earthquake dampers for structures

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers have demonstrated the reliability and efficiency of "real-time hybrid simulation" for testing a type of powerful damping system that might be installed in buildings and bridges to reduce structural damage and injuries during earthquakes.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/nprgqdsgaa0/130730163144.htm

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When it comes to free speech, Twitter is caught between a rock and a very hard place

Twitter has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to become what CEO Dick Costolo has called ?a global town square,? and with 200 million users in dozens of different countries it has come pretty close to achieving that goal. But what happens when the town square is filled with sexual abuse or death threats or other bad behavior? That?s the conflict the company finds itself in right now, as it tries to battle a firestorm of criticism over its lack of action in cases like those of British journalist Caroline Criado-Perez.

As we explained in a recent post, Criado-Perez was subjected to what she says were hundreds of abusive and violent messages ? many threatening rape and some even worse ? in a matter of hours earlier this week, in what appeared to be a co-ordinated attack that lasted for several days. The abuse was apparently directed at Criado-Perez because she supported putting pictures of prominent women on British banknotes.

Criado-Perez and her supporters, including some prominent British politicians and fellow journalists, have complained that Twitter?s existing methods for dealing with such abuse are insufficient, since they require a user to fill out an online form to report each incident. Twitter has since said that it is implementing a ?report abuse? button for its apps ? but critics note that all this does is automate the existing reporting process that uses the same form.

Del Harvey, who runs Twitter?s trust and safety unit, wrote a blog post for Twitter?s UK blog entitled ?We Hear You,? in which she tried to strike a balance between the network?s size and the need to respond to legitimate complaints about abuse. And it?s easy to see the company?s point ? it handles more than 400 million tweets every day, and even if abusive tweets were some small proportion of that number, it would be virtually impossible to monitor or handle them all individually without enormous expense. Said Harvey:

?We are constantly talking with our users, advocacy groups, and government officials to see how we can improve Twitter, and will continue to do so? we hope the public understands the balances we?re trying to strike as we continue to work to make our systems and processes better.?

A platform or a publisher?

From a legal standpoint, as The Guardian notes in a piece about Twitter?s challenges, the company is protected ? in the U.S. and Britain at least, as well as some other jurisdictions ? from facing criminal responsibility for the tweets that it carries, in the same way that phone companies aren?t held liable for conversations that involve criminal activity, and instant-messaging platforms are also protected. The idea is that Twitter is just a pipe or platform for others to publish, and they bear the ultimate responsibility for the content and any repercussions.

Twitter has also made a point over the years of reinforcing two central points about the service: the first is that ?you own your tweets? ? meaning you control them and by extension are responsible for them ? and the second is that the company values the principle of free speech extremely highly, which its legal counsel Alex Macgillivray and others have described as being ?the free-speech wing of the free-speech party.?

This is all well and good in the U.S., which has a strong history of supporting free speech and freedom of the press, but Twitter?s job in navigating the stormy waters of free expression gets a lot harder in other countries ? where protection for free speech may not be as extensive. France managed to get Twitter to hand over personal details about users who posted offensive comments about gays and Jews, and Germany convinced Twitter to block new-Nazi tweets.

Free speech vs. government control

Britain may have a fiercely independent press, but it also has much stronger protections around harmful speech such as libel and slander ? and both the British police and some legislators there seem less than inclined to let Twitter off the hook for incidents like the one Criado-Perez was caught up in simply because the company believes in free speech and the right of users to control their own tweets.

British MPs have said they plan to ask Twitter some questions about its system for dealing with abuse at a committee hearing in the fall ? and it has already broached the idea of somehow regulating the service, in the wake of the riots in London in 2011. Andy Trotter, a chief constable who is in charge of social media for the British police service, said he doesn?t believe the company should be able to claim some kind of immunity for publishing abusive content, and that it is Twitter?s job to take action in such cases:

?We want social media companies to take steps to stop this happening. It?s on their platforms this is occurring. They must accept responsibilty for what?s happening on their platforms. They can?t just set it up and walk away.?

In that sense, what the company has been experiencing in Britain raises an even larger question, one that also came up recently in Turkey: Can Twitter maintain its commitment to free speech and the right of users to control their own tweets while expanding further into countries that are less committed to those kinds of principles ? if they even uphold them at all? And how long can it maintain the position that it is just a platform, not a publisher?

Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Shutterstock / Fuzzbones and Shutterstock / Luciano Mortula

Source: http://gigaom.com/2013/07/30/when-it-comes-to-free-speech-twitter-is-caught-between-a-rock-and-a-very-hard-place/

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Baseball: Dodgers sign former Giants rival Brian Wilson

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20130730/SPORTS16/130730011/1459

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Google launches Views, a community site for contributing Android?s photo spheres to Google Maps

Google today announced the launch of a new community site called Views. The new service serves one main purpose: it?s a place to publicly share your photo spheres to Google Maps.

If you need a refresher, Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and above comes with a photo sphere camera that lets you snap photos in any direction and piece them together into 360? panoramas that Google calls ?photo spheres.? You can then view these on your phone, share them to Google+, add them to Google Maps, and even post them on your own website.

Below is a screenshot of the new Google Maps for desktop with a photo sphere (notice the thumbnails at the bottom that show all the photo coverage, with each image placed on the map):

To add your own, you?ll need to sign into the Views site with your Google+ profile. Next, click the blue camera button on the top right of the page and import your existing photo spheres from your Google+ photos, or tap ?Share? in Android?s Gallery app and select Google Maps.

On Views, you get your own page which shows all your photo spheres and lets you add descriptions about the place you?ve visited. You can also explore your uploads on a map.

Evan Rapoport, Product Manager of Google Maps & Photo Sphere, has shared his own Views page and corresponding map as an example:

Understandably, there isn?t that much content on Views yet, so Google has added the Street View Gallery to compensate: it features panoramas of the company?s most popular Street View collections. You can access it on any Views page by hitting the ?Explore? button at the top.

It?s not clear why Google chose to launch Views now, as opposed to when photo spheres first came out. A pessimist would say the company expected a bigger response but didn?t get it, so Views is an attempt to boost the feature?s popularity, while an optimist would argue Views was planned to launch when more Android users could take advantage of it. Either way, Views is a clever way to crowdsource more content onto Google Maps.

See also ? Google expands photo sphere viewing from Android and Google+ to the Web with new widget and Android 4.2 users can contribute their photo sphere images to Google Maps

Top Image Credit: Colby Brown

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNextWeb/~3/IaFJTHaJOw8/

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Daughter's cancer diagnosis compels mother to complete triathlon

Triathlon success for mother

1:04pm Tuesday 30th July 2013 in News

A MOTHER who staged her own triathlon to raise money for a cancer charity has raised just over ?3,000 from her venture.

Jill Harker, from Northallerton, spent her 59th birthday on Saturday, July 27, swimming, cycling and running to raise money for a cancer charity.

Mrs Harker?s daughter, Wendy, was diagnosed with a tumour in her eye, so she set herself her athletics challenge to raise funds for the Eye Tumour Research Fund.

She covered the equivalent of a half marathon - swimming just over three miles in Richmond Swimming Pool, then cycling five miles and running five miles.

Mrs Harker, who worked as a teaching assistant at Romanby Primary School for 18 years, until retiring this summer, said: ?I have no plans to do any more triathlons at this moment, but I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who supported me.?

Source: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10580083.Daughter_s_cancer_diagnosis_compels_mother_to_complete_triathlon/?ref=rss

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Nexus 7 2013 Review: The Best Small Tablet, Even Better

Google's Nexus 7 was the best small tablet of 2012. Rather than mess with success, Google did something uncharacteristically conservative: It made little improvements here and there and left the rest mostly as is. The result? This year's Nexus 7 is more low rumble than tectonic shift, but it's still our new favorite tablet. For now, at least.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/AfDcc3lTHNw/nexus-7-2013-review-the-best-small-tablet-even-better-947533058

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Storms Aplenty, But Hurricanes Rare in Hawaii

Tropical Storm Flossie is expected to make landfall in Hawaii today (July 29), battering the state's black sand beaches and tall, tropical volcanoes with 45 mph (75 kph) winds and localized rainfall of up to 15 inches (38 centimeters).

Though it may not seem like it to those living on the mainland, in the Hawaiian Islands, Pacific tropical storms are pretty common events, said Steve Businger, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. "There have been several in the 20 years I've lived here. They're not so terribly rare," Businger told LiveScience. (Tropical storms have winds between 39 and 65 mph [63 to 105 kph].)

It's hurricanes that are the rare bird in the region. Only four hurricanes (Iniki, Iwa, Dot and Nina) have made landfall in Hawaii in the past 60 years, though four or five tropical cyclones (the blanket term for tropical storms and hurricanes) form in the central Pacific every year, according the National Weather Service's Central Pacific Hurricane Center. By comparison, the U.S. mainland sees about seven hurricanes make landfall every four years, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Florida alone has been hit by four hurricane since 2010. (Hurricanes have winds of more than 74 mph [119 kph].)

In the central Pacific, hurricanes form just as they do in the Atlantic. Warm ocean waters near the equator push heat and moisture into the atmosphere, where strong winds force the rising air into a spiral. [50 Amazing Hurricane Facts]

In the Pacific Ocean, the prevailing tropical winds blow storms out to sea, away from the U.S. mainland and toward Hawaii. This is why the West Coast so rarely sees tropical storms make landfall. The Coriolis effect also helps aim hurricanes toward the islands by deflecting storms away from the equator. (The Coriolis effect is the deflection of rotating objects on Earth's surface as a result of the planet's own spin.)

But Hawaii is a small target in a big ocean, making is less likely that a hurricane will hit the islands. More importantly, the islands' westerly trade winds and cool sea-surface temperatures protect the state from powerful hurricanes, said Pao-Shin Chu, a climatologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the head of the Hawaii State Climate Office. Hurricanes need warm water to fuel their heat engines. And the westerly currents set up an unfavorable wind shear (or change of wind direction as height increases). The combined effects decrease the intensity of approaching storms and keep them from getting too close. "The trade winds push hard enough on storms to keep them on a perfectly westward track," Businger said.

The most common storm track for hurricanes in the central Pacific is south of Hawaii, where the ocean is warmer and the winds more conducive to growing cyclones. Of the four hurricanes to have hit Hawaii in the last 60 years, three approached from the south. The strongest and most destructive, Hurricane Iniki in September 1992, snuck in when a kink in the jet stream sent the westerlies south, allowing the storm to track north.

Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/storms-aplenty-hurricanes-rare-hawaii-223255817.html

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?Friendship on the menu?: President Obama and Hillary Clinton do lunch [photo]

Hillary Clinton visited the White House today for a private lunch with President Obama.

What did they have? Well, the reported menu sounded as if it had been written by Hallmark:

The discussion was reportedly just casual talk, with perhaps a little bit of getting on the same page regarding a certain ?phony scandal? thrown in?

Oh, come on. What difference does it make?

Source: http://twitchy.com/2013/07/29/friendship-on-the-menu-president-obama-and-hillary-clinton-do-lunch-photo/

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Toyota: New Jobs, Hybrids Set For Indiana Plant

Though Toyota hybrid sales are dominated by the run away success of the Prius family, the Japanese automaker does have other hybrids in its stable. This includes the Highlander Hybrid which, at over $40,000 and with a 28 MPG highway/city/combined fuel economy rating, isn?t exactly on the top of the shopping list for many hybrid buyers. There must still be some demand out there though, as Toyota has announced plans ? and jobs ? for production of it here in the States.

Toyota said it plans to increase production of the Highlander mid-size SUV in late 2014 with a $30 million investment at its facilities in Princeton, Indiana. It will develop as a result of this spending increase?200 new jobs, ?with new team members helping to increase production volume by 15,000 units.? This expansion raises total employment to approximately 4,700 and total plant investment to more than $4.2 billion.?

As for the hybrid specific version of the Highlander, the Indiana plant reportedly will begin production of these before year?s end. Not all of these will likely be for just American drivers, as some Highlanders made in Indiana will end up being exported to places like Russia and Australia.

Toyota Highlander Hybrid at 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show (image copyright EarthTechling)

Besides Highlander models,?Sequoia full-size SUVs and Sienna minivans are built in Indiana, with current?production capacity at 300,000 vehicles. This will increase to 350,000 later this year, and with the addition of the Highlanders, will jump up to?365,000 vehicles by late 2014.

?This capacity increase is to meet growing demand for the Highlander and is a part of our strategy to build vehicles where we sell them,? said Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana?President Norm Bafunno in a statement. ?We appreciate our loyal customers who value the quality products our dedicated team members build in Princeton, and we?re excited to build even more Highlanders.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Earthtechling/~3/EUifPVK4uRw/

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Allen West says GOP should stop "playing checkers" with liberals

Former U.S. Rep. Allen West speaks at the Western Conservative Summit at the Hyatt Regency in Denver on Sunday. "We have to stop playing checkers and start playing chess," West said of what Republicans must do to win back the presidency. (Grant Hindsley, The Denver Post)

To win back the presidency, the Republican Party will have to raise its game, Allen West ? a former congressman and Fox News contributor ? told the Western Conservative Summit on Sunday.

"We have to stop playing checkers and start playing chess," West said.

It was time to "start playing this game strategically," West told the final session of the three-day meeting in Denver.

West closed out the conference Sunday, saying conservatives need to stop worrying about being blamed for the nation's problems.

"Let's stop worrying about 'we're going to get blamed, they don't like us,' " West said. "If you stand on principle, if you stand on what's right, that is what matters."

The theme was one that was sounded by many of the speakers during the weekend conference.

Speakers, from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, said that while conservatives should not change their stances, they need to change their approach.

Colorado Democratic Party chairman Rick Palacio said in an earlier interview that the conference would not help conservatives reach a broader audience.

"This does nothing to expand their base," Palacio said. "This does nothing to bring new voters to their party."

In the past, the summit has attracted presidential hopefuls and potential candidates, such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

A straw poll conducted during this year's summit was won by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who spoke at the event Saturday.

Cruz, who received multiple standing ovations during his speech Saturday, won the straw poll with 225 votes, or about 45 percent. The results of the poll were tabulated from votes taken by summit attendees.

Cruz beat out Walker for the top spot. Walker, who gave the summit's keynote address Friday, won 65 votes, or about 13 percent.

The conference marked the fourth time the Centennial Institute and Colorado Christian University have held the event.

The summit attracted about 2,000 people throughout the weekend, including those attending a similar conference in Arizona who participated in some of Saturday's activities via simulcast.

Centennial Institute director John Andrews said there are discussions about developing a series of simultaneous conferences in California and Texas next year that would be video-linked. Andrews described that summit's idea as "contagious."

Matthew Patane: 303-954-5224, mpatane@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mattpatane

Source: http://feeds.denverpost.com/~r/dp-politics/~3/YKw81VmxtMY/allen-west-gop-needs-play-strategically-defeat-liberals

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Bedford New York Real Estate | Bedford NY Homes by Robert Paul ...

Posted on July 28th, 2013 admin

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If ghosts paid the rent, Eric Hadar would have an all-star tenancy: Freddy Bienstock, Johnny Burke, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Jimmy Van Heusen, to name a few. Not to mention J.J. Hunsecker and Danny Rose.

The Brill Building, at 49th Street and Broadway, currently stands more than half empty, after the closing last year of Colony Records and the Sound One postproduction studio.

But ghosts do not pay the rent. Neither do fictional characters. Their onetime home, the Brill Building, 1619 Broadway, at West 49th Street, now stands more than half empty, after the closing last year of Colony Recordsand the Sound One postproduction studio.

Mr. Hadar, the chairman of Allied Partners, a private real estate investment company, believes he can breathe life back into the Brill Building by evoking its show business past. He paid $185 million for the 11-story landmark in February.

For starters, he is in discussions with the Songwriters Hall of Fame ? a 44-year-old organization with plenty of fame but no hall ? about establishing a small museum in the Brill Building, where songwriters once swarmed to stake out the 80 or 90 music publishers or catch the attention of entertainers whose offices were there. The songwriters group will also curate a permanent exhibition in the lobby.

Irwin Z. Robinson, the chairman of the National Music Publishers? Association, briefly had an office in the 11th-floor penthouse suite leased to Mr. Bienstock, who was closely associated with Elvis Presley. Mr. Robinson recalled certain songwriters, naming no names, who would knock on enough doors at the Brill that they would end up with a couple of buyers, meaning that two or three publishers owned 100 percent of their songs.

The tale was greeted with amusement by two celebrated songwriters, Jimmy Webb (?By the Time I Get to Phoenix,? ?Wichita Lineman, ?Up, Up and Away?) and Desmond Child(?Livin? la Vida Loca,? ?You Give Love a Bad Name,? ?Angel?), who were visiting the building with Mr. Robinson and Mr. Hadar.

Standing in the gleaming, mirrored lobby, Mr. Webb said, ?It?s like the physical manifestation of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.? He is the organization?s chairman.

Mr. Hadar said he was prepared to spend $50 million or more to finance, renovate, repair, maintain and lease the Brill Building.

?I would like to get a premium in rents by developing a building that?s exciting because of the people who are in there,? he said.

Though the building was designated an official landmark in 2010, it scarcely stands out these days on Broadway, especially without Colony Records. Its other retail space, where Jack Dempsey?s Restaurant did business from 1937 to 1974, is also dark.

The Brill Building is still home to three important show-business offices: Paul Simon, an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame; Broadway Video Entertainment, a production, postproduction, marketing and distribution company led by Lorne Michaels; and Key Brand Entertainment, which develops touring theatrical productions.

There is also at least one remnant of the days when the Brill Building was a kind of vertical Tin Pan Alley. On the sixth floor, a visitor can find ?St. Nicholas Music Inc.,? as the hand-painted gold-leaf letters proclaim on the transom over a door with chicken-wire frosted glass, brass hardware and a mail slot. This is the company that licenses ?Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,? 64 years after Johnny Marks wrote it.

?

Half Empty but Full of History, Brill Building Seeks Tenants ? NYTimes.com.

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Source: http://www.robertpaulsells.com/bedford/half-empty-but-full-of-history-brill-building-seeks-tenants-bedford-real-estate/

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Florida Lotto jackpot rises to $43 million

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The jackpot in the Florida Lotto game has grown to $43 million after no one matched the six winning numbers in the latest drawing, lottery officials said Sunday.

A total of 44 tickets matched five numbers to win $4,459 each; 2,496 tickets matched four numbers for $60.50 each; and 47,465 tickets matched three numbers for $5 each.

The winning Florida Lotto numbers selected Saturday: 6-10-18-27-28-51.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/28/3527174/florida-lotto-jackpot-rises-to.html

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Egypt Under Military Rule Pledged Billions by Gulf States

Egyptian pound value rises following influx of aid from Gulf

Ahram Online, Thursday 25 Jul 2013

Egyptian pound strengthens against dollar following $5 billion aid deposit by Gulf states in Central Bank

Egypt has seen its local currency strengthened against the US dollar in the past few days, as a result of the $5 billion deposit from the oil-rich Arab Gulf States in the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The Egyptian pound is at an official average of 6.95 to the dollar, according to the CBE website, as American currency has dropped by 0.7 percent after averaging LE7 in mid-June.

The currency rose after the CBE?s governor Hisham Ramez told Ahram Arabic news website last week that Egypt?s net international reserves (NIR) had risen to reach more than $20 billion due to the recent aid from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.

The deposit at the CBE is part of $12 billion in aid that has been pledged by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and UAE after the ouster of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military.

Al-Ahram also reported on Thursday that the American dollar has fallen back to the black market record of LE7.10, compared to LE8 in April.

Egypt's foreign reserves, which stood at some $36 billion in January 2011, have fallen to $14.9 billion over two years of political turmoil, and the Egyptian pound has lost 22 percent of its value against the dollar.

CBE has continued its foreign exchange auctions since the end of December 2012 to help stave off a currency crisis and thwart a run on the pound.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/77392.aspx

IMF freezes talks with Egypt, awaits international recognition of interim government

Reuters, Thursday 25 Jul 2013

Deputy spokesman confirms contact with Egypt is on technical level, loan talks will not resume until international community recognises interim government

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it will not engage in talks about a possible $4.8 billion loan to Egypt until the country's interim government gains recognition from the international community.

IMF deputy spokesman William Murray repeated that the Fund has not been in touch with the current government in Egypt, only with bureaucrats on the technical level.

"It's a case of the international community ... its institutions, its nations, coming together and recognizing a particular government," Murray told reporters on Thursday. "That would be true anywhere.

"And until that happens, and until our members make a decision on the Egyptian government, we're going to keep our context technical (at the technical level)."

The IMF had been negotiating a critically needed $4.8 billion loan with Egypt before the military removal of elected President Mohamed Mursi in early July.

The current Egyptian cabinet as a whole has not yet said clearly whether it will resume talks with the IMF about the loan, which would come attached to economic reform commitments that the government might find politically risky.

Planning Minister Ashraf al-Arabi said last week that now was not the right time to restart negotiations with the IMF because $12 billion in aid from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait would carry Egypt through its transitional period.

The next parliamentary elections are expected in about six months, but any transition could be delayed by radical reforms of the budget system that hurt living standards and bring protesters back into the streets.

After a year of Mursi's administration, Egypt's fiscal position is desperate; in recent months government revenue has covered barely half of all expenditure, leaving borrowing and aid to make up the rest.

An IMF loan is widely viewed as necessary to convince foreign donors and investors that Egypt's economy is on the right track.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/77366.aspx

Source: http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2013/07/egypt-under-military-rule-pledged.html

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Lois DeBerry Dead: Longtime Tennessee Lawmaker Dies At 68

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Rep. Lois DeBerry, one of the longest-serving women lawmakers in the nation and a powerful influence in state politics, died Sunday after a nearly five-year bout with pancreatic cancer. She was 68.

The Memphis Democrat was surrounded by family and friends when she died at a Memphis hospital, her nephew, Gary DeBerry, told The Associated Press.

First elected in 1972, DeBerry was the longest-serving member of the state House of Representatives. Nationwide, only two other female lawmakers elected in 1972 are still serving, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

She also was the second African-American woman to serve in the Tennessee General Assembly.

As the first female speaker pro tempore in the House, she was respected by her colleagues, who gave her the honorary title of speaker emeritus. Legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle sought her support on key legislation.

She was a close friend of former Vice President Al Gore for more than 30 years and gave a rousing presidential nominating speech for Gore at the Democratic National Convention in 2000.

"The Gore campaign at that time needed a sparkplug, someone to stand up and give a ... call to action," recalled Rep. John DeBerry, a distant relative who served with her for more than 20 years in the Legislature. "And Lois was chosen for that. She brought him on to a rousing applause."

DeBerry pushed legislation to benefit poor people, children, senior citizens and college students. One proposal was aimed at keeping students out of debt by restricting credit card companies from soliciting on college and university campuses.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. said DeBerry's faith and outspokenness earned her the adoration of many in the Memphis community.

"For those in political circles, she was Speaker DeBerry, a trusted partner and consummate advocate for the people of Memphis and our state," Wharton said in a statement. "Many of her friends and people across the community, however, also knew her as Lady D ? an intelligent, cosmopolitan, personality whose passion for the people she served knew no bounds."

She continued to serve in the Legislature, despite her chemotherapy treatments and illness.

House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh said her resilience in her final days was "unbelievable."

"We'd say, why is she doing this? It's got to be painful, it's got to be very stressful on her," the Ripley Democrat said. "She was one of a kind, there's no question."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/lois-deberry-dead_n_3668129.html

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No?: Is It Fair For Baseball To Reject Drugs But Embrace Surgery?

?Salute the Surgeons and Vilify the Pharmacists?? Voltaireing the UCL argument forever!

But now we come to the source of the irony I mentioned above: Why do we view the use of Jobe?s particular brand of artificial, performance-altering technology as exemplary of the positive role medicine plays in baseball, but we view the use of other kinds of medical technologies ? performance-enhancing medicines ? as somehow anathema?

Don?t surgery and the medicines have broadly the same effects: that of enabling athletes to play better longer and to manage pain and recover from injury?

Why are drugs bad whereas surgery is just fine?

Some of you may be quick to notice that steroids and other PEDs are banned. It?s cheating to use them. But not so surgery, which is entirely on the up and up.

But this just begs the issue. Why have we banned use of performance enhancing medicine but not surgery? Why do we salute the surgeons and vilify the pharmacists?

And let?s not forget that we discount the achievements of athletes who used performance enhancing drugs even before these substances were banned. Drug use in baseball isn?t thought of bad because it is banned. We banned the use of drugs because it?s bad. And so the question is: what?s so bad about it? Why is it cheating to take medicines but not cheating to get your elbow rebuilt?

Nor is it any help to be reminded that the use of performance enhancing drugs is dangerous.

So is surgery!

And anyway, consider that the use of PEDs would be much less dangerous if they could be administered, as with surgery, under the guidance of doctors.

Source: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/newsstand/discussion/is_it_fair_for_baseball_to_reject_drugs_but_embrace_surgery

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Viewers line up for tonight?s Seafair Torchlight Parade

Hertej Kauer, 16, of the Sikhs of Washington practices while waiting for the Seafair Torchlight Parade to begin next to Seattle Center Saturday.? (Photo by Lindsay Wasson / The Seattle Times)

Seth and Kim Rosen wanted to make sure they got a good spot to view the Seafair Torchlight Parade, so they headed to downtown Fourth Avenue early.

The parade starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. They got there at noon.

?We got the very last curbside spot,? Kim Rosen said as she and her family sat at their makeshift camp near Fourth Avenue and Cedar Street.

The Torchlight Parade is expected to draw 300,000 viewers to watch the on Fourth Avenue between Seattle Center and Pioneer Square.

With a couple of hours to go before the parade started, viewing areas were at a premium. Groups walked up and down Fourth Avenue trying to find a space to set down lawn chairs and blankets. Near Fourth Avenue and Battery Street, someone had chained together five chairs around a tree.

The parade is a Seattle tradition that?s gone on for 64 years. The Rosens have come at least a half-dozen times in the past 30 years, they said, first with their daughter, Jessica Markham, and now their 3-year-old granddaughter Ashlyn. The Duvall couple wanted to make sure their granddaughter had a good spot to watch the parade.

Before the procession started, the couple passed the time watching ?the parade outside the parade.?

?The people-watching is not too bad,? Seth Rosen said.

Viewers had other things to watch before the parade, too. At 6:30, racers in the Torchlight Run, some in pirate costumes, would be running along the same route.

Source: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/07/viewers-line-up-for-tonights-seafair-torchlight-parade/

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Jailbreak IOS 5.1/5.1.1 Iphone 3gs

I have an iPhone 3gs....Jailbroken Version 4.1 (8b117) Carrier 8.0 Model MC131B Modem Firmware 06.15.00

So, I am thinking to update it to IOS 5.0/5.1.1. How can I update it and how I can jailbreak it. ?

I am using un-official carrier...Please help...

Thnx in Advance...

Source: http://www.jailbreakqa.com/questions/191065/jailbreak-ios-51511-iphone-3gs

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Mitchell 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe Used SUV near Sioux Falls, SD Brookings, SD Vern Eide Ford Lincoln for $

• Color: Pewter
• Stock#: F92736A
• Engine: 5.3L V8
• VIN: 1GNEK13T41R189011
• Transmission: Automatic 4-Speed
• Odometer: 157,942 mi.
• Body Style: 4WD SUV (4 Door)

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• Convenience

• • Speed-proportional power steering
  • Tilt steering wheel
  • Clock - In-radio
  • Tachometer
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• • Intermittent window wipers

• Interior

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• • 4-wheel ABS brakes
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• Technical

• • 4WD Type - Automatic full-time
  • 285 horsepower
  • 5.3 liter V8 engine
  • 4 Doors
  • Four-wheel drive
  • Automatic Transmission

• Not all issues are reported to CARFAX. The number of owners is estimated. See the full CARFAX Report for additional information and glossary of terms.

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Contact Us at (800) 778-0215

EPA mileage estimates are for newly manufactured vehicles only. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle.

Before purchasing this vehicle, it is your responsibility to address any and all differences between information on this website and the actual vehicle specifications and/or any warranties offered prior to the sale of this vehicle. Vehicle data on this website is compiled from publicly available sources believed by the publisher to be reliable. Vehicle data is subject to change without notice. The publisher assumes no responsibility for errors and/or omissions in this data the compilation of this data and makes no representations express or implied to any actual or prospective purchaser of the vehicle as to the condition of the vehicle, vehicle specifications, ownership, vehicle history, equipment/accessories, price or warranties.

Source: http://www.verneideford.com/2001-Chevrolet-Tahoe-Mitchell/vd/15960527

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Pakistan, India to restart composite dialogue in August

The stalled Indo-Pak composite dialogue process is all set to restart in August with Islamabad proposing dates for water secretary level talks ? meant to address the Wullar Barrage issue ? and New Delhi "actively considering it".
Pakistan, in fact, has also proposed a meeting between the two foreign secretaries but, as diplomatic sources confirmed, only after talks over water and Sir Creek issues are held, said an Indian media report.
The dialogue process with Pakistan was thrown off the track by the January ceasefire violations, which led to killings of both Indian and Pakistani soldiers. The water talks that were to be held in late January were the first casualty of the impasse that followed. India decided to postpone the talks saying that its water resources secretary was retiring and instead proposed that the dialogue be held in March.
The postponement came days after then Pakistani commerce minister Makhdoom Fahim called off his visit to India. "There are some proposals from Pakistan for the resumption of dialogue and dates are being worked out through diplomatic channels," TOI quoted an Indian government source as having said.
Diplomatic sources said Pakistan has sent a list of dates to India for all government-level dialogues, which are to be held in Islamabad. Pakistan wants the water talks to be held in the last week of August and Sir Creek in mid-September.
It has also said that foreign secretaries could meet in October to take stock of the overall situation. It has suggested that PM Manmohan Singh could visit Pakistan around the same time to further bolster the peace process.
Indian government sources said there is no questioning of not responding favourably to the proposals by Islamabad as India has already agreed to a meeting between PM Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of UNGA in New York late September.
Sharif's special advisor on foreign affairs Sartaz Aziz had proposed in a meeting with foreign minister Salman Khurshid that the two PMs meet in New York to fast track the CBMs and composite dialogue process. Speaking after Aziz, Khurshid had said India was looking forward to meetings between the various joint-working groups in July itself.
The list of dates for talks is yet another initiative by Islamabad to put the peace process firmly back on track after the victory of Sharif in the recent general elections. Sharif maintained throughout his election campaign that he wanted to repair ties with India.
While he insisted after taking over that Singh keep his long-standing promise to visit Pakistan, Sharif accommodated his counterpart's reluctance to go there by proposing that the two meet in New York for the time being.
The Pakistani PM then went ahead and appointed former Pakistan foreign secretary Shaharyar Khan as his special envoy for reviving the track II dialogue process with India.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Breaking/~3/hCPHg-7KEh4/pakistan-india-to-restart-composite-dialogue-in-august

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Video: WisdomTree: 'Future of asset management lies in the ETF i...

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52588874/

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Disney Junior Live on Tour @ DPAC | Triangle Arts and Entertainment

Home ? Events ? Disney Junior Live on Tour @ DPAC

by: Triangle A&E

Disney Magic Returns with Your Favorite Characters

Act One: 34 minutes
Intermission: 15 minutes or 20 minutes
Act Two: 45 minutes
Total Running Time: 1 hour, 34 minutes
(Times are approximate and subject to change.)

Grab your tiaras and doubloons and join us for Disney Junior Live On Tour! Pirate & Princess Adventure. Mickey and Minnie are taking their seats too at this never-before-seen live show featuring your favorite characters from Disney Junior?s hit series, Sofia the First and Jake and the Never Land Pirates. Get swept up in the excitement as Sofia and her family prepare for a royal celebration that helps us all learn the true meaning of being a princess with a special appearance from Cinderella. Then it?s off to Never Land where Jake and his swashbuckling friends Izzy and Cubby, with a little help from Peter Pan, battle Captain Hook to unlock treasure hidden inside a mysterious volcano. It?s danger and dueling on the high seas as Jake discovers what it takes to be a true hero. Filled with new music, amazing effects, thrilling action and endless surprises, your whole family will sing, shout, and soar into the action when Disney Junior Live On Tour! Pirate & Princess Adventure sails into Durham.

Special bonus! Starting ten minutes before every performance join loveable Doc McStuffins for a special pre-show! You can help Doc take care of one of her beloved toys with her own special brand of love and magic. Free to all ticket holders.

iCal Import + Google Calendar

Source: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/event/disney-junior-live-on-tour-dpac/

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NOAA Goes Live With New Forecasting Supercomputers

I suspect if they removed the computers and installed windows in the offices of our local TV meteorologists we would get better short term forecasts. I've also decided that any precipitation forecast more than about 3-4 days out that doesn't involve a system as large as a hurricane is just a wild-ass guess*. Heck, even real time they're often wrong, the local guys are fond of reporting sunny all day while I'm actually looking outside at it raining.

*Well, unless you're in SoCal Mar-Dec, in which case "Sunny" is always the statistically correct answer, or Orlando/Daytona, where "It will rain at 3:45pm for 5 minutes" is always the statistically correct answer.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/1ykN6dgXv7w/story01.htm

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Amazon Will Soon Surpass Microsoft AND Google In One Key Measure (AMZN, GOOG, MSFT)

Amazon now has ~97,000 employees, and as it expands into grocery delivery and the TV and movie production business, it appears to be about to overtake Microsoft as one of the biggest tech companies on the planet. (Apple and Facebook are relative minnows, with roughly 16,000 and 5,000 employees each.)

Geekwire produced this useful chart (below), which illustrates how Amazon has grown as an employer since 2008. Amazon still has a ways to grow in terms of retail giants ? Target has 365,000 employees.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employee-headcount-numbers-2013-7

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Daoud Kuttab: US Court rejects to connect Jerusalem with Israel

The city of Jerusalem has many diplomatic missions that have the official title of consulate general. These include the US, most Western European and Scandinavian countries, as well as Turkey.

These diplomatic missions report directly to their capitals and they are not accountable officially to their counterparts from their country's diplomatic missions in Israel and, more recently, in Ramallah.

This practice has been going on since the Ottoman/Turkish rule in Palestine and the region in the 19th century.

After the creation of Israel in 1948 these missions continued to operate mostly in East Jerusalem (some, like the Americans, owned property in West Jerusalem) and they have continued to work after the June 1967 occupation.

While these missions mostly served the Palestinian community politically, culturally and consular wise, the only difference after 1967 was that these missions widened their (mostly consular) services to all the population of Jerusalem. The US consulate in East Jerusalem continued to provide consular and cultural services while the building owned by the Americans in West Jerusalem's Agron Street became the residence of the US consul-general and later housed caravans that provided space for USAID officials working in the Palestinian areas.

American citizens who lived in the Greater Jerusalem area as well as the rest of the West Bank (both Israelis and Palestinians) were restricted to the Nablus Road consulate in East Jerusalem for their consular affairs.

Despite numerous calls by congress to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the executive branch in Washington was able to apply the waiver provided in the congressional law to insist on maintaining the status quo.

As long as the status of Jerusalem was among the final status agenda items, the US refused to determine who the holy city belongs to.

US diplomatic officials, therefore, refrained to specify a country of birth when it came to anyone who was born in Jerusalem, whether of a Jewish-Israeli background or a Palestinian-Arab background.

The politically correct US mission in Jerusalem refused to assign the country of birth to those born in Jerusalem as either Israel or Palestine. Instead they came up with a clever diplomatic side step. Under country of birth, American consular officials put "Jerusalem".

For some time this diplomatic compromise worked, until theUS congress passed a law and a patriotic Israeli-American couple wanted to have their child's birth listed as Jerusalem, Israel.

US officials refused, saying this was in the executive branch's decision-making power as it, and not the legislative branch, decides foreign policy.

The angry Israeli-American suggested that Americans be given the choice of listing their country of birth as either Jerusalem or Israel.

Again the US State Department and White House refused, feeling that this choice can't be given to a Palestinian whose country of birth can't be legally stated as Palestine and, therefore, listing only Israelis born in Jerusalem as being born in Israel would clearly discriminate against Palestinians.

Every passport officer in the world would know (if the idea had been approved) that if they see someone listed as being born in Jerusalem they are in fact ethnically Palestinian.

The US State Department refused the request and the case was brought to the US court of appeals.

The US court of appeals for the District of Columbia, which reviewed the case of Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky filed by his parents against the US secretary of state, ruled on July 23 that "Jerusalem-born Americans, whether supporters of Israel or supporters of Palestine, may not use their passports to make a political statement". It also reaffirmed that the executive branch and not the legislative branch of the US government decides such issues.

The pro-Israel lobby, which has a greater stranglehold over congress than the White House (especially a second term president), will undoubtedly be unhappy with this ruling.

The timing of this decision is crucial as the issue of Jerusalem will surely be a major topic of discussion if the expected negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians are launched in the coming weeks and months.

The wisdom of the US court to keep out of a volatile conflict such as the Palestinian-Israeli one, and an even more sensitive issue of Jerusalem, is welcomed.

?

Follow Daoud Kuttab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/daoudkuttab

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/us-court-rejects-to-conne_b_3656901.html?utm_hp_ref=world

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Kate Middleton Weight Loss Tabloid Cover: Too Soon?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/07/kate-middleton-weight-loss-tabloid-cover-too-soon/

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Healthy pets could lead to healthier pet owners

The veterinarian examined Bella, a spotted cocker spaniel, and quickly concluded she was obese and needed to lose weight.

Working with a trainer, Maria Gastelum put her pooch on a nutrition and fitness plan. The regimen produced another benefit: Gastelum started to eat better and exercise more.

"If I didn't have her, I wouldn't own a pair of tennis shoes," said the Ontario resident. "It's really unbelievable how she's motivated me."

Los Angeles County public health officials hope that millions of pets living in the region can provide the same sort of inspiration and results for their owners. The idea is simple: If people won't exercise, eat better and stop smoking for themselves, maybe they will for their pets.

"You look at pets, and they look like their owners," said Karen Ehnert, acting director of veterinary public health for the L.A. County Department of Public Health. "We envision that by improving their pet's health, we can improve the family's health as well."

A year-old coalition of veterinarians, doctors, health educators, animal trainers and others called Healthy Pets, Healthy Families is trying to figure out how best to accomplish that. The group has conducted surveys of vets and pet owners and identified the areas where human and animal health overlap. Now, members are designing health education campaigns and finalizing goals for the year 2020, including reducing the number of pet owners who smoke and increasing the proportion of dog owners who go on daily walks. They also want to promote smoke-free parks.

Ehnert, who is heading the coalition, wants owners to think more about what both they and their pets eat and to view their dogs as exercise buddies. She is encouraging neighborhood dog-walking clubs, which she said have the added benefit of reducing isolation.

Nationwide, about 53% of dogs and 58% of cats are overweight or obese, according to the Assn. for Pet Obesity Prevention. They are at higher risk for diabetes, arthritis, hypertension and respiratory conditions. Many of the owners who have overweight dogs are overweight themselves, according to a 2010 academic study.

Veterinarians are often reluctant to talk about obesity with the owners, who may treat their pets like children and overindulge them, said Peter Weinstein, the executive director of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Assn. and a member of the coalition. "A discussion with a pet owner about their pet's weight is a very touchy subject, especially when an owner also has a weight problem," he said.

The causes of obesity are the same in both pets and humans: not enough exercise and too much unhealthy food, experts say. Just as humans snack on potato chips, animals snack on treats and table scraps ? and both gain weight. "We have gotten as a population into bad habits for ourselves, and we have extended them to our pets," Weinstein said. "We need to find ways to change those habits."

Gastelum acknowledged she and Bella had developed bad habits. After a long day at work in Los Angeles, Gastelum used to arrive home and collapse on the couch. Bella ate too much during the day and they rarely walked in the evenings. They both felt exhausted.

"I would feed off her energy and she would feed off mine," she said. "We just lagged."

After being warned about her dog's weight problem, Gastelum started working with Melissa Morrison, founder of Fur Fitness, an organization that works to reduce pet obesity through training and education. Morrison said her clients feel embarrassed about their pets' obesity and are usually eager to get them slimmed down. Sometimes, she said, the owners see their pets lose weight and say, "That is great you got the dog healthy ? what about me?"

During a recent Healthy Pets coalition meeting in Los Angeles, participants broke into groups to discuss topics such as obesity, secondhand smoke, bite prevention and the importance of vaccinations.

At one table, they talked about pet owners failing to recognize the dangers of pets breathing cigarette smoke and eating cigarette butts. The public health department distributed copies of fliers explaining the risks and urging pet owners, "Stop smoking for their health and yours!" One postcard, featuring a photo of a dog with a gas mask, reads: "Got Fresh Air?"

At another table, Weinstein noted owners unwittingly overfeed their pets, advising they give their dog just a cup of food when the container they use holds several cups.

Heather Readhead, a family medicine doctor with the public health department, said she has seen similar problems with her diabetic patients. Readhead said she didn't know much about animal health before joining the coalition but now sees opportunities to help people by focusing on how they care for their pets.

Gastelum set out to exercise with Bella on a recent morning, hooking on a pink and black leash and grabbing a bottle of water. They walked briskly through their quiet Inland Empire neighborhood to a local school, where Bella chased Gastelum around the grass, taking breaks only to take a few sips of water from a small bowl.

A bird flew by and Bella took off running. "Go get 'em, baby girl," she said, but the bird was too fast.

Since starting the fitness routine last year, Gastelum said she has lost six pounds and Bella has dropped 10. They both stopped being couch potatoes and now have much more energy.

Back home, Bella, panting softly, climbed up onto a leopard-spotted blanket. Gastelum, face glistening with sweat, sat down beside her and patted Bella's head.

anna.gorman@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/T4LEO2075Q8/la-me-health-pets-20130724,0,4306968.story

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Ex-'CCO anchor Don Shelby mulling run for Congress (Star Tribune)

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Evolution on the inside track: How viruses in gut bacteria change over time

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The digestive tract is home to a vast colony of bacteria, as well as the myriad viruses that prey upon them. Because the bacteria species vary from person to person, so does this viral population, the virome. By closely analyzing the virome of one individual over two-and-a-half years, researchers have uncovered new insights on the virome can change and evolve -- and why the virome of one person can vary so greatly from that of another.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/XaKjbDlWOj0/130726191528.htm

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